Smedley Family

Friday, May 18, 2012

Ellary's 1st Trip to Wisconsin & Mother's Day

Last Friday, I got up early. Running around the house, packing a diaper bag, packing a suite case, counting outfits & diapers. I packed my sling for Ellary, and the choo-choo track for Karson. I told Karson Nana was coming over, and we were going to get to ride in "Nana's Car" & get "new shoes" on our way to Gigi's. At 9:00 my Mom pulled in the driveway, we loaded up her car, strapped in the kids, put on a movie for Karson, and headed for Ellary's first trip to Wisconsin.

We stopped at the outlet mall in Michigan City. We said we would only stay for a few hours. We should have known better. Michigan City has a Hanna Andersson Outlet. I have an obsession. I love Hanna Andersson. Their outlet has amazing prices, and over the weekend everything was an additional 40% off. Ellary made out good! Lots of adorable dresses, some for only $5. We spent a few hours in Hanna Andersson, and then headed to Stride Right to get Karson new shoes. He told me he wanted "yellow shoes like Mama." We showed him a bunch of shoes, and asked him if he liked them. He kept saying "nope....nope...nope..." Until he saw the blue shoes with yellow on them. He got his "yellow shoes."

Our trip should have taken us 4 1/2 hours, if we drove straight through. We left at 9:00, we pulled into my Grandma's around 9:00 Wisconsin time. That is 13 hours of traveling with 2 littles. We stopped a lot, we went to 2 outlet malls, we went out for lunch and dinner. We were exhausted, Karson was exhausted. We spent time with my Grandma & headed to the hotel for Karson to swim. At 10:00 at night. :) We finally crawled into bed, and fell asleep around midnight. I was sure Ellary was going to be up all night, I was wrong. She slept through the night, and Saturday morning, Karson looked like this...

Needless to say, we had to wake the very sleepy little boy up!

Saturday, we spent the day visiting. Little Ellary & Gigi got to spend some time together, when my Mom ran to the store with Karson.

sleeping on Gigi's floor in front of the window

Nana took Karson swimming on Saturday afternoon. He loved it & had so much fun jumping in. Mommy was very proud of him!!

Karson got a special treat from Aunt Pat after dinner on Saturday. A Monster cookie. A whole lot of sugar, and a very happy little boy!

Picking the eyes off his Monster Cookie.

On Mother's Day, we headed to my Aunt's for brunch.

I tried getting a picture of Karson with his Gigi, but he was more interested in her watch.

There is something special about spending Mother's day with your Mom, Grandma, and babies.

Giving Nana a kiss through the handle in the gift bag...

Four Generations

a certain little boy was past exhausted

Talking with Aunt Pat...

Before we left for home, Karson even got to sit in Jay's yellow vet!

It is tough work meeting new family. Ellary slept the entire way home!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Ellary {4 weeks}

Today, Ellary is 4 weeks old! I can not believe she is 4 weeks already, but at the same time it seems like the day she was born was so long ago!

Ella, at 4 weeks you...

Love your bath. You have always loved bath time, even when it was just a sponge bath on the counter when you were itty bitty! You get a bath in the big tub now. Evey night, we put you in the tub at 7:00 to wake you up before bed time. You relax as soon as you hit the warm water, and the only reason we get you out, is because you start shivering.

Are gaining weight...and gaining it quickly! Last week, you were almost 9 lbs. You are in 3 month clothes now, and they are none too big!

You are still a little barracuda...but you are starting to eat a little less frequently. Last week, a lactation consultant came over to help us out, and you ate 4 ounces! Quite a lot for such a little girl!

You are nursing well. Except in the middle of the night. You choke, and scream, and curl into a ball. I thought it was because you were getting it to fast...now I am starting to think it is a tummy issue. You start crying & stop nursing right after your tummy gurgles. You were doing it all the time, and now you only do it at night. I am holding out hope it will get better. It makes for a long 2 hours at 1am!

You are sleeping well! You sleep from 10pm-1 or 2am, you stay up for 2 hours until you are finally able to eat, and then fall back asleep for 3 hours. We either start our day at 5 or 6am.

Thank goodness for coffee!

Your brother is starting to tolerate you a little better. He asks where you are if he can't find you, but that is about it. He loves to 'rock rock' you whenever we put you in a bouncy seat, car seat, or swing. Needless to say, you are rarely ever in the bouncy seat or swing.

You still won't sleep on your back. If we put you on your back, you roll to your side and fall asleep. You are so strong! You love to sleep on your tummy too, but we only let you during the day when we can keep an eye on you.